"Good morning Onii-chan" a bright cheery voice greeted him as usual in the corridor.

"Good morning Ilya," Shirou mumbled back in reply.

Ilya looked positively shocked at his sleepy reply.

"Onii-chan! You should greet a lady properly," She pouted.

"Sorry Ilya, I guess I'm still kind of half-asleep," Shirou replied and shook himself awake.

Walking side by side with the silver-haired girl, he arrived at his living room.

"Good morning Senpai!" Sakura called out to him.

"Hey there Sakura," He greeted.

Ilya sulked, "You still haven't greeted me properly yet."

"Yes yes, good morning your exalted majesty," Shirou said curtly.

Ilya sniffed and promptly turned up her nose and proceeded to eat breakfast in silence.

He shrugged and ate his own breakfast, indulging in his own private thoughts of Avalon.

This was abruptly interrupted by Ilya's sudden interjection.

"Onii-chan! I just remembered something!"

"Say it then," he said and started drinking a cup of water.

"Kotomine Kirei said he needed to see you for a moment as soon as possible," Ilya said airily.

Shirou choked on his water.

"Ko—Kotomine Kirei!"

Ilya said nothing and continued to eat her breakfast.

"What does he want me for?"

"He said that if you don't wish to see him its fine by him, only he would be sad that you would die without knowing why."

"Since when did Kirei care about me?"

"He doesn't, he just thinks it's more interesting to see the look on your face when you die with full knowledge of why."

"That sounds more like the Kotomine I know."

Shirou somehow managed to muster up enough courage to walk all the way to the front of the church.

"What was I thinking!" Shirou muttered under his breath. "It's dangerous to go near that priest at all."

He hesitated for a long time in front of the doorsteps, turning back and front.

At last he could not stand it and decided to postpone his meeting.

Just as he turned to leave—

"Emiya Shirou, how nice of you to come and offer prayers to God," An irritatingly familiar voice said to him.

—Kotomine Kirei had arrived at the doorstep.

Summoning his mental strength to keep his calm about him, Shirou faced him.

"I thought you needed me to listen to what you have to say."

Kirei turned slightly to the side and snorted, closing his eyes with a slight twist of his lips as if he expected that reply.

"As expected of the son of Kiritsugu; quick to talk but slow to listen. But very well, I shall get to the point," He said as he looked at me with contempt.

"The Holy Grail War is not over."

Shirou momentarily froze.

Kirei continued to speak, ignoring Shirou's reaction.

"I have received reports of coma incidents happening in the rural areas; of course this can only mean one thing. A Servant is still alive." He paused and eyed Shirou from the side.

"And it is impossible for a Servant to be in the human world unless it is brought here by the power of the Holy Grail or it has bathed in its contents and its master is still alive."

"But since none of the masters I know of still have any command seals, the only reasonable conclusion is that the Holy Grail has summoned it here and there is a new master out there."

"Of course, since the fifth Holy Grail War was already concluded six months ago, one can say that this is the beginning of the sixth Holy Grail War. It seems that the Holy Grail is getting impatient. The contents inside the Holy Grail have been stagnant for too long and the Holy Grail cannot contain it any further."

Shirou's head spun in confusion at Kirei's explanation.

"So you mean…that a sixth Holy Grail war is in progress now?"

"Yes, but naturally, it seems only one master has been chosen so far."

"And why are you telling me this?"

Kirei raised an eyebrow to look at him skeptically.

"I thought that being the protector of justice meant that you have to stop this Holy Grail War too, considering that this time the masters are probably going to butcher one another in spectacular fashions. Pity I couldn't do that myself," He muttered the last sentence as an afterthought.

"Strange, I had the impression you didn't approve of me."

Kirei snorted again,

"I don't approve of your ideals; they are childish and utterly unrealistic."

He smiled and stretched out his arms in exultation.

"But it just amuses me to see you try. So please try your best to put up a good enough show to keep me interested enough."

Shirou gritted his teeth and by sheer willpower resisted the urge to punch Kirei's guts.

"Thanks for that," he forced himself to say.

With that he turned to leave.

"Oh yes Shirou."

Shirou looked over his shoulder to stare at Kirei, who had one foot on the doorsteps of the church and a bible in his right hand.

"Try not to die," He said with a smile that didn't reach his eyes.

Shirou, too stunned to speak, could only walk away silently.

When he was halfway back home, a realization hit him.

The only reason Kotomine Kirei said isn't because he cared about me, He thought as he remembered Ilya's words.

It's because he just wants to kill me himself.

The author would like to thank you for your continued support. Your review has been posted.